


How Being Lost in The Woods Teaches Jake & Amy About Parenthood.

by idkspookystuff



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Pregnancy, Supernatural Elements, bisexual!Jake, but ALWAYS bi!jake, i mean it's not specifically mentioned, trans!Jake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-16 16:44:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18695389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idkspookystuff/pseuds/idkspookystuff
Summary: Jake watches as his feet trace yet another circle into the dirt beneath him. “I’m gonna die,” he says yet again. “I’m gonna die out here in the woods without Amy’s at Charles’ freakin’ birthday party.”"Ya know,” comes a voice from behind him. “If you keep freaking out like this, you’re going to pass out from the panic.”-or being lost in the woods teaches jake and amy about parenthood, strength, and facing insecurities.





	How Being Lost in The Woods Teaches Jake & Amy About Parenthood.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lokithegodofsass](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lokithegodofsass/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Let Me In](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17670560) by [poetdameron](https://archiveofourown.org/users/poetdameron/pseuds/poetdameron). 



> Happy 22nd birthday to my brilliant, crazy, beautiful, badass girlfriend [Josie](http://www.tveitball.tumblr.com). She's pretty much my favorite person in the entire universe. She listens to me rant about things that are INSANELY boring, she watches shows I know she doesn't with me, she's always so kind and understanding, and she doesn't care if I communicate only in ugly selfies, emojis, and one-word responses. She's read more horrible fanfiction of mine than I'd like to admit and she always tells me I'm good, even when I know I'm not. She's one of the most hardworking, fiercely loyal, kindest people I know and I feel incredibly blessed every day to be her boyfriend. <3
> 
> About this fanfic: my incredible girlfriend, as with literally everything I'm into, got me into b99, so it's only right that I dedicate my first (and probably last) ever b99 fic to her. This fic includes bi!Jake (which is my favorite headcanon and also something I annoy Josie with) as well as trans!Jake, because every fic I write has to have at least one trans character, sorry.
> 
> This fic was very heavily inspired by a Buzzfeed Unsolved fic called [Let Me In](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17670560) by poetdameron. It makes infinitely more sense and is amazing and beautiful and you should totally read it if you like Buzzfeed Unsolved (or good writing in general). 
> 
> Finally, thank you to everyone who reads this fic. I hope it entertains you for a bit.
> 
> \- Seb

“This is stupid.”

For his birthday, Jake had promised Charles anything he wanted. This was, apparently, the wrong idea - Charles’ idea of a good time was ghost hunting deep in the woods of buttfuck, Ohio. They separated from the rest of the group by accident when, in the middle of an argument, Rosa led everyone away from them and now, (Jake aims his flashlight towards the ground to look for the breadcrumb trail Boyle left behind: _nada_ ), _yup,_ they’re lost.

“None of this would have even happened if you,” Jake shines the flashlight in Amy’s face accusingly “had actually listened when Charles was talking instead of complaining about a joke that bothered literally no one else.”

Amy’s hand doesn’t waver from where she’s been holding it on her lower stomach for the past five minutes, shining her flashlight from bush to bush. Perhaps Jake would be more worried about her if his blood wasn’t boiling over what was very clearly just a joke. “A joke?” Amy asks like she can read his thoughts. (She honestly probably could, at this point). “So telling me that everything we’ve been working towards for a year means _nothing_ to you is a joke now? Cool, cool, cool-”

“Ames-”

“No, please, Jake. Please go on.”

“Amy-”

“Please tell me more about how our entire relationship is a joke to you now.”

“Amy! Watch out!”

There’s a whooshing sound and something grabs Amy by the shoulders. Jake watches as she folds in on herself, one hand going for her gun, the other still on her stomach. There’s a blinding, bright light and Jake brings an arm up to shield himself from it. When he can finally see again, he’s aware of a few things: the forest floor is definitely different than he remembers it, it’s somehow brighter, and Amy’s gone like she was never there.

* * *

 

“Jake?” Amy yells. She feels like she’s been walking forever - her feet are tired and her eyes are heavy. Her flashlight passes over the forest floor once again and - once again - nothing. “Jake!” she tries yelling his name anyway, despite the fact that the past four times she tried to call for her husband, she was met with no answer.

Amy takes a deep breath and assesses the situation. Okay, it isn’t _all_ bad. She and Jake both have cell phones which she can use to call the 99 if she ever gets service. She has retained survival skills from her time as a girl scout, she has her gun for protection and Charles had provided them with enough food and water to last three days, which she has stashed in her backpack. At first, it had seemed overkill but now, she couldn’t be more grateful for her husband’s best friend.

“Are you ever going to talk to Jake again?” Charles had asked Amy when he passed her the backpack when they had first started out into the woods, what now seems like ages ago.

Amy didn’t answer. She wanted to say yes, of _course_ she did, but staring at her husband, watching as he packed his backpack and poignantly avoided her gaze, she remembered what had happened just a week before. She remembered standing in their kitchen, early in the morning, both sleep deprived as they screamed things at each other. She remembered Jake’s unfunny joke and the way his face instantly broke as he saw her reaction. And she remembered how his voice cracked as he called out after her, as she slammed the door closed behind her, Jake’s voice fading alongside the ringing in her ears.

The ringing which, she notes with a soft sigh, is still there. She puts a hand to her head and squeezes her eyes shut, quietly counts to herself to calm herself down. She’s not going to die in the middle of the woods. And neither is Jake. Because neither of them is allowed to die before she tells him-

Amy goes quiet. She hears a tree branch snap from behind her. Her blood goes cold as she realizes she’s being followed. She reaches for her gun calmly so as not to arouse suspicions. She stands still for a minute and hears another tree branch break, and then another. She swings around and comes into contact with the person, knocks them down until she gets an arm on their chest and she holds them on the ground. “NYPD!” she yells.

The brown-haired girl on the floor gives her a goofy smile. “Cool,” she answers. “Like _Die Hard_!”

* * *

 

Jake watches as his feet trace yet another circle into the dirt beneath him. “I’m gonna die,” he says yet again. “I’m gonna die out here in the woods without Amy’s at Charles’ freakin’ birthday party.”

“Ya know,” comes a voice from behind him. “If you keep freaking out like this, you’re going to pass out from the panic.” Jake spins around and watches as a teenage girl - probably sixteen - climbs down a hill and approaches him. She’s around 5’4 to 5’6, tanned skin, brown hair, and she’s wearing a girl scout vest. Her jeans are torn and pushed up around her ankle.

Jake straightens his spine in the presence of this teenage girl. “Yeah,” he says. “Like you’re faring much better.”

The girl raises an eyebrow. “I know how to get out of here.”

Jake sighs. “I guess you win, then.” When the girl shrugs and walks past him, checking him on the shoulder on the way, Jake grabs her by the wrist. “At least let me come with you.” The girl gives him a once over, and Jake suddenly feels self-conscious in a t-shirt that reads ‘ _Charles Boyle’s Boy_ ’. “I’m Detective Jake Peralta with the NYPD. My wife is lost in the woods too. If you get me out of here, I can contact the rest of my squad to look for her.” He gives the girl a pleading look. “Please.”

The girl sighs as she breaks out of his grasp. “Fine,” she answers. “I guess the recognition could be nice. And leaving a citizen in peril wouldn’t be very girl scout of me, either.” She holds out her hand. “I’m-” she hesitates “-Camila.”

Jake scoffs as he shakes her hand. “What?” he asks. “Aren’t you sure?”

“It’s a fake name,” Camila answers. “Just in case you aren’t a cop after all.” She puffs out her chest. “But I wouldn’t try anything if I were you, _Jake_ ,” she coats her name like she’s sure it’s fake. “I was the top of my archery camp for the best three years.” She makes a muscle at him. “Best in Bow.”

Jake rolls his eyes. There’s something weirdly familiar about this girl, but he can’t place his finger on it. Maybe she reminds him of one of Amy’s little cousins, an overachiever with a natural drive that honestly intimidates him. “Yeah, whatever,” he answers. He pushes Camila’s arm down and that’s enough to get her to start moving. “Why are you out here in the woods anyway, Camila?”

“If you must know, I was camping alone to earn my final girl scout badge,” she pushes her hair out of the way to reveal an empty spot on her vest, “when I got lost. I was following the river downstream to find civilization when I met Natalie.” Jake has an involuntary reaction to the name and Camila gives him a once over. “You good?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Jake answers.

“Anyway, I was leading Natalie to safety when we were separated and I came across you having a panic attack at the bottom of a hill.”

Jake feels his cheeks flush. “I wouldn’t call it a _panic attack_ , per se-”

Camila ignores him. “So plan of action: we find Natalie, we find your wife and we get the hell out of here.” She looks over her shoulder at Jake, who’s somehow fallen behind. He jogs a little bit to keep up with Camila. “Good?”

“Gucci.”

* * *

 

Amy stands once she assesses that the teenager under her isn’t a threat. She offers a hand for the girl - probably fourteen or fifteen - and the girl stands. She has long, girly brown hair, wide brown eyes, and a crooked smile. She hasn’t stopped smiling since Amy tackled her and it’s a little off-putting. “What’s your name?” Amy asks.

The girl hesitates for a second. “Nat,” she answers.

“Nice to meet you, Nat,” Amy answers. “I’m Amy Santiago. I’m a police officer and I’m gonna get you out of here.” She looks over her shoulder. “Have you by any chance ran into anyone else?”

“Yeah, actually.” Amy’s face lights up until Nat continues. “Camila. She’s sixteen, dark hair, around yae high,” she brings her hand just underneath her.

“So not Jake then,” Amy mutters under her breath. She grabs her backpack from where she had abandoned it on the floor and motions for Nat to follow her. The flashlight isn’t working anymore but it doesn’t matter; weirdly enough, her eyes have adjusted to the dark.

Nat rushes to keep up. “Jake?” she asks. “Who’s that?”

“My husband,” Amy answers.

Nat breaks into another smile. “Your husband?” she repeats. “What’s he like? Why aren’t you with him?”

Amy huffs out a laugh. “We got separated and I have to find him. Then I’ll lead you out of here. We just have to follow the river downstream.”

“Cool, cool, cool,” Nat answers. They walk in comfortable silence for a minute and Amy’s grateful for it. All she can focus on is Jake. She wonders where he is, if he’s okay, if he’s just getting himself more lost. She hopes someone else from the precinct has found him by now but it seems unlikely. She hasn’t seen Charles’ breadcrumb trail for a while and she hasn’t heard any of them since they got separated.

It’s crazy to think that, just this past week, she was pacing the bathroom floor for five minutes, waiting for the results of a test that could change their lives forever. After a year of fertility treatments and looking for donors and going to doctors, false negative after false negative, so many nights of crying herself to sleep in Jake’s arms, it could all change. The timer on her phone went off and Amy took a deep breath as she approached the sink. With shaking hands, she picked up the end of the test and looked at the result.

A pink plus sign stared back at her. She almost couldn’t believe it.

Amy let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding in a soft laugh. “Oh my god,” she whispered to no one in particular. She put a hand to her stomach and let it rest there.

As if on cue, Jake walked in the front door. “Hey babe!” Amy heard him call out through their apartment. “I’ve had the worst kind of day.”

Amy took a deep breath and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was a little bit messy and she had dark circles under her eyes but none of that mattered. She was going to be a mom. She broke into a toothy grin at the prospect and then she pushed open the door.

Jake was in the kitchen. He had abandoned his shoes by the front door and was rifling through their cabinets looking for something to eat. Amy came up behind him and kissed the back of his neck once, leaned her head against the muscle there. “Hey,” she said softly.

Jake spun around and wrapped an arm around Amy’s waist. “Hey yourself,” he answered. He leaned down to press a kiss to her lips. “So hey. This weekend, I thought we should go on a trip.”

“Okay,” Amy answered. She couldn’t keep the toothy smile off her face. “But first I-”

“Just you and me,” Jake continued. He wasn’t paying attention to her anymore and was instead rifling through their cabinets again. His fingers caught on the end of a _Lucky Charms_ box as he kept talking. “And no crazy baby talk.”

The smile fell from Amy’s face. “What do you mean?”

Jake shrugged. He grabbed the box and pulled it down. He shoved a marshmallow in his mouth as he answered. “It’s not good for you, worrying about getting pregnant. Maybe we should just forget it.” With one sugar covered hand, he motioned to himself. “I mean, if God wanted me to procreate, he would have given me a dick.”

Jake laughed but Amy couldn’t hear anything over the blood flowing into her ears. “We should forget it?” she asked quietly.

Jake gave her a once-over and his smile dropped into a frown. “Ames, I was joking.” He reached out to grab her but Amy was faster - she scooted back so that the space between them was wider. The tension was palpable.

“You were joking?” Amy asked. “So this past year, everything we’ve been through, you’ve just been joking?”

“Amy, of course not,” Jake answered.

Amy huffed. “I’m not sure I want to look at you right now.” She grabbed her keys and turned on her heels. With quick, three strides, she was to the door. She hardly even looked back as Jake called her name, hung out the door, sock-clad feet leaving lint all over the hallway as Amy ran.

And now Jake’s going to die without ever knowing-

“Woah, Amy, look out!” Strong arms pull her back. When Amy looks, she realizes she had been about to fall off a cliff. Nat’s arms wrapped around her held her back. “Jesus, do you have a death wish?”

Amy’s hand goes to her stomach on instinct. Nat’s eyes trace the movement. “Are you sick or something?”

Amy shakes her head. “No,” she answers, her voice weak. “I’m pregnant.”

* * *

 

“Wanna play twenty questions?”

Camila glares at Jake from over her shoulder. She’s been in front of him the whole time, and honestly the silence is a little terrifying. Jake wants to learn more about this badass teenage girl who somehow knows her way through the woods. There’s something about the tension in her shoulders, the way her eyes flit from bush to bush, that seems like something below all the bravado.

“Twenty questions?” Camila shoots back.

“Yeah. Something to ease the mood?” Jake offers. When there’s no reply from Camila, Jake continues. “I’ll start. Do you have any siblings?”

“I have brothers,” Camila answers vaguely. “Is your full name Jake?”

“Jacob,” Jake replies. “I just go by Jake. Why?”

Camila shrugs. “It just feels very fifteen-year old boy, that’s all.”

Jake scoffs. “I’m making up for lost time,” he jokes.

Camila stops walking then and turns back to him. “What do you mean by that?” she asks.

“It’s just a joke,” Jake answers.

Camila raises an eyebrow but doesn’t comment on it anymore. Jake lets out a sigh of relief he didn’t know he’d been holding. “You joke a lot, huh, Detective Peralta?”

Jake laughs under his breath. “You sound like my wife.”

Camila kicks at a rock along the path. “How’d you and your wife get seperated, anyway?”

“I think it’s unfair that you have way more turns than I do,” Jake jokes again. When Camila doesn’t answer: “we were fighting and then something separated us.” Camila hums under her breath. “It was a fucking stupid fight anyway. She’s gotten herself so worked up about having a baby and it all just blew up.”

He remembers that day well. No new leads on a case he’d been working on for months, Captain Holt giving him a disappointed look when he asked for an update, the weight of Amy against his back when he was rummaging through the cabinets for cereal. He was so excited for a weekend alone, just the two of them, no baby talk or doctors or stress.

He wanted a baby, of course he did. He wanted a little human that he and Amy could raise, someone he could teach values to, wanted to be what his father never was for him. It was just a joke. And the way Amy overreacted, like she knew something. The gears in Jake’s brain start turning: the sleepless nights, the flu symptoms that would come and go, the way she was holding her stomach just hours before.

“Holy shit,” Jake says under her breath.

Camila turns on her heel. “What?” she asks. Jake drops to his knees and takes a deep breath. Amy’s lost in the woods and she’s pregnant. His pregnant wife is lost in the woods. It’s finally happening.

“She’s pregnant.” He feels like he’s going to be sick.

* * *

 

Nat backs up like Amy shot her. “You’re pregnant?” she asks. When Amy nods to confirm, she laughs under her breath. “I’m lost in the woods with a pregnant cop. Cool, cool, cool.”

It’s hearing it the second time that triggers something in Amy. Suddenly, she realizes with startling clarity why Nat looks so familiar. The fluffy brown hair, her nose, the way her hooded eyes trace the ground. Even the way she’s carrying herself: hunched over and curled in. Her smile. The baggy sweatshirt.

“Nat,” Amy says quietly. Nat looks over at her. “Like Natalie. Peralta. You’re Natalie Peralta.”

Nat reacts the same way Jake does when he hears his birth name: her nose scrunches up and her eyes dart away from Amy’s face. “Yeah,” she answers. “How’d you know that?”

Amy takes a deep breath. “Okay. I’m lost in the woods with my husband as a teenager. That’s fine.”

Nat scrunches her eyebrows. “What do you mean?” she asks. “I’m not your husband, clearly.” She pulls at the ends of her sweatshirt. “I’m not even a guy, so.”

Amy feels her heart break. “Hey,” she says softly. “You know you can be anything you want to be?”

Nat scoffs. “Okay, you’re being weird. I’m out of here.” She begins to walk away but, before Amy can call after her, she hears Jake’s voice.

“Ames!” Amy turns and sees Jake running towards her, someone else in tow. Amy can’t bring herself to focus. She starts running as well, determined to meet him in the middle. She needs to tell him that he’s going to be a dad, she needs him to know that she’s not mad at him, not really, they can talk about this, they can do this. But before she can say any of this, she and Jake both run into something invisible.

“What the hell?” Jake mutters to himself. He puts his hand forward and hits against a sheet of glass. Amy tries pounding at the glass but it doesn’t move. An invisible barrier separates the two of them.

“Ames,” Jake says. He presses his hand into the glass as hard as it can and she puts her hand over his on the other side. “Ames, I’m so sorry. I know I’m a jerk and I know about the baby and I’m elated. Really, I am. I love you and our baby so much, Amy.”

Amy hears a soft “what the fuck?” from behind her as Nat sees Jake. Jake recoils in horror and looks between Nat and Amy. At the same time, Amy sees a younger version of herself step out from where she was lurking behind Jake. Before any of them can acknowledge each other, there’s the loud whooshing again. This time, Amy sees the shadow of a creature the size of five men fly over them. She ducks down and reaches out for Nat to protect her, but the light is too bright. By the time the whooshing stops and the light dims again, Nat, Jake, and the wall are gone.

“So.” Amy looks up at herself, age sixteen. “I hear you’re pregnant.”

* * *

 

Jake and Natalie stare each other down for a solid minute and a half before either of them speaks. Jake’s the first one to break the awkward silence. “You’re transgender, just so you know.”

Natalie laughs. “I’m not transgender,” she says, even as she pulls at the end of her sweatshirt so it’s baggier. “You might be but I’m not. I mean, not that there’s nothing wrong with being transgender. But I like being a girl.”

Jake laughs under his breath. “That’s some bullshit.” He stands and starts walking again. When Natalie doesn’t follow him, he turns to look at her. “Are you coming or not?”

Natalie jogs to keep up with him. It’s a lot different from walking with Camila and, somehow, more awkward. “How could you do that to your family?” she asks.

Jake looks over his shoulder. “It was more like how could I not do it?” He looks down at his feet and kicks idly at a rock at his feet. “I couldn’t keep living as someone I’m not. And sure, mom’s confused for a bit but she gets over it.”

There’s a long pause between them. “What about dad?”

“Fuck dad,” Jake answers. Natalie raises her eyebrow at him. “I’m serious. You’re awesome, dude. You shouldn’t let anyone get in the way of who you really are.”

Natalie gives him a sideways smile. “So,” she says. “Jake. Not John?”

“Surprisingly, that didn’t occur to me until after I legally changed my name.”

They smile at each other, and that’s when they hear screaming coming from elsewhere in the woods. Jake barely glances back at Natalie before he takes off running towards the sound, his past self hot on his heels.

* * *

 

Camila offers Amy a hand to help her up. “Come on,” she says as soon as Amy’s on her feet.. “I can get us out of here.” She starts down towards the river again but Amy can’t move. She’s lost in the woods with herself as a child. This is either a fever dream or the weirdest fucking experience of her life.

Camila turns back to her. “Hello? Are you deaf?”

Amy never realized how much of a bitch she was at age sixteen. She’s struck with the overwhelming feeling that she should call her parents and apologize, if she ever makes it out of here alive. “Why are you being so mean to me?” she asks.

“Because,” Camila sighs. “This?” she waves a hand towards Amy. “Is not my future. I’m sorry, but it’s not. You may be a detective now, but you can’t be a pregnant detective. Life isn’t a sitcom. Soon, you’ll just be a housewife with _Jake_ ,” she spits out his name like it’s venomous, “rubbing your feet. That isn’t my life. I can’t be a mom and a detective and I choose to use my talents to keep up with my peers.”

Amy remembers, suddenly. Being surrounded by boys all her life, having to struggle to prove herself in her classes, teachers choosing boys over her because “they were more qualified” essentially translated to “they’re not try-hard Latina girls”. She was so determined to prove herself, prove that she could keep up with the boys, that she was a good detective and she deserved everyone’s respect.

“Hey,” Amy says softly. Camila starts walking against the river again, doesn’t look back at Amy. Amy rushes to keep up with her. “You know you don’t have to sacrifice your femininity for your job, or vice versa.” When Camila doesn’t reply: “you can still be a badass cop and a mom who loves her husband.”

“Yeah, right,” Camila answers. Amy doesn’t get a chance to say anything else to her, though, because out of nowhere, something grabs Camila, she lets out a blood-curdling scream and she’s gone.

Jake’s the first one there, trailed closely by Natalie. The first thing he notices is the creature holding Camila, her hands dangling from its mouth. The creature is huge - it’s unlike anything he’s ever seen before. It’s probably ten feet, a couple hundred pounds, with a giant, open mouth covered in teeth. It’s pitch black and it’s eyes burn a whole into Jake’s brain. The next thing he notices is his wife, pulling at the thing’s leg, one hand tangled in Camila’s.

“Amy!” Jake yells. Amy doesn’t look back at him, just pulls hard at Camila’s hand. With her other, she lets go of the creature’s leg and grabs her gun.

“Let go of her!” she yells, as if she can reason with the creature. When the thing gargles and sucks Camila in more, Amy shoots it. Once, twice, and then the thing screeches and spits out Camila. Amy catches her and the two of them tumble towards the ground, Camila on top of Amy. Jake looks away for half a second and the creature is gone.

Camila is the first one to gather her wits. “Huh,” she says, out of breath. “I guess you are kind of badass.” She gets off of Amy and spots Natalie, runs over to her. The two girls embrace like they’ve known each other their whole lives. “Oh my god,” Camila whispers into Natalie’s hair. “Are you okay?”

Jake doesn’t pay them any more attention. He drops to his knees in front of his wife, who pushes herself up to meet him. He puts a tentative hand on her shoulder and then, when they finally make contact, he melts. His eyes well up with tears and he pulls her into a hug. “I’m so sorry,” he says. “I know about the baby and I’m happy. I’m so, so happy. I’m ready to be a dad, I was just scared. I’m sorry about the joke.”

“No, I’m sorry I overreacted,” Amy answers. “I was scared too.”

Jake leans back to press his hand to Amy’s stomach. They both look down at his hand and then laugh, out of breath and scared shitless. Jake leans forward and presses their lips together as Amy’s hand comes up to cup the back of his head. Jake can taste the saltiness of her tears, the shaking in her hands.

They break apart when they hear Charles’ voice from behind them. “Guys!” He comes running over, the rest of the 99 behind him. “What happened?”

“We were trying to save-” Jake starts, but when he turns around, Camila and Natalie are gone like they were never there in the first place. The woods is darker now, but it’s more familiar, somehow. Jake can see Charles’ breadcrumb trail at their feet. “Where’d they go?”

“We found you alone,” Rosa says from about ten feet away. Jake looks back down at Amy and gives her a disbelieving smile. Charles offers a hand first to Jake and then to Amy - they stand and Amy leans into his side, her arm around his waist.

“Are you okay?” Charles asks.

Jake looks down at Amy and she smiles back at him. His hand is still on her stomach and she puts her hand over his, the two of them connected in every way. “Yeah,” Jake answers. “We’re okay.”


End file.
